Am I the only one who has noticed the continual and worsening situation whereby coach bays at motorway service areas (MSAs) are being occupied from late afternoon until early morning by HGVs?
With experience of the coaching industry since 1992, I have never known it this bad, and it worsens week on week. Nobody seems able or willing to control it. If it’s possible to get in, the trucks also occupy the car spaces.
There is clearly insufficient lorry parking available and an ever-increasing number of trucks parking overnight on MSAs.
It’s a regular feature to find access roads in and out of MSAs to be bumper to bumper with trucks backing up towards the motorway running lanes. A prime example is Cobham Services, where parked trucks extend back to the motorway lanes every night of the week when I am passing.
At Cobham, it’s fair to say the coach bays are kept free, on threat of a penalty. That’s fine providing you can navigate a path through the parked maze of trucks to reach them.
I have written to my MP in Essex and he has passed my concerns to the Department of Transport. This is a problem which needs sorting out now, not in 10 or 20 years’ time. Clearly there has been a total lack of attention to this issue at government level. I have no reason to believe it is any different elsewhere in the country.
Merv Whitney,
Leigh-on-Sea, Essex
